Every year come bowl season, the college football playoff question arises. What would happen if we used a playoff instead of the current bowl system? One thing for certian is that the bowl system and the BCS is flawed and only about money. How can a system that has allowed Northern Illinois into the BCS not be questioned. Under the current BCS rules Northern Illinois deserves to be in but it's time for a new system. The selection process needs to be different along with the voting process and a 4 team playoff isn't enough.
For years, a college football playoff has been shot down with reasons that don't hold up. The most notable of those being protection of the student athlete. Bowl enthusiasts who use this argument have no clue. If academics are hurt by playoffs, why do they have a 32 team playoff at the FCS level? Second, a 16 team playoff schedule can be set in December when students are off so no class would be missed. A playoff would run into January when classes start back but at that point only a few teams would be left.
Another argument against a playoff, raised mostly by BCS presidents(behind the scenes), is loss of money that the current bowl system generates. Another false thought. Money would likely go through the roof with a playoff. Mountain West Commissioner, Craig Thompson, has researched and found that a college football playoff would make an estimated $700 million from a 16 team playoff. Currently, the BCS generates only $182 million. Also, current bowls could be used for hosting playoff games. Bids to host playoff games are estimated to reach over $90 million; that's $54 million more than what the BCS National Championship Game pays out. Using the games like the Sun Bowl could match up championship contenders instead of a 6-7 team playing a 7-5 team. The Sun Bowl would love that. Also the BCS Bowls wouldn't be forced to pick sloppy teams instead hosting teams that will have earned their way there in the first rounds of the playoffs.
The selection process will need to be better than what the BCS is providing us now. Teams shouldn't get credit for losing. For example, Clemson lost to South Carolina and moved up a spot in the BCS Standings. Should a team that loses move up in the rankings? What needs to be done is have an RPI system and a selection panel to pick the teams, just like the NCAA Basketball Tournament is done. What this will do is prevent polls, like the Jeff Sagarin Poll, from being a deciding factor. Sorry, to be harsh on Jeff Sagarin but his poll has no place in deciding who is going to play in the BCS Championship and a playoff. His poll is all over the place and makes no sense. With a new system teams will still be snubbed but by using RPI, strength of schedule, and records against top 25 teams it will put teams on a level playing field.
I have put together a mock prototype of what a football tournament would be like. For now, we will use the final BCS Standings to determine the brackets. Also, most of the better bowls will be used as host sites for playoff games but to be fair there will be a few bowls like the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl that will be used because of location in the first round. This will prevent teams like Notre Dame from traveling halfway across the country. Rules for the football tournament would be as follows:
- The ACC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12, and SEC Champions are all guaranteed an automatic bid.
- The top 3 of the 6 non-automatic Champions will get a spot. This will be based off the current BCS Standings.
- The top 8 teams in the final rankings will receive the at large bids
- No more than 4 teams from one conference will make the playoff.
- Bowl sites will be set in different regions. Where there are multiple bowls in a particular region the bowls that bid the highest or have the highest payouts will be the first choice as host sites. The current BCS bowls will rotate each year hosting 2nd round games, 3rd round, and Championship Game. The bowl hosting the National Championship will also host a 2nd round game.
- First round bowl sites:
- Capital One Bowl(Orlando, FL)
- Valero Alamo Bowl(San Antonio, TX)
- Meinake Car Care Bowl of Texas(Houston, TX)
- New Era Pinstripe Bowl(Bronx, NY)
- Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl(San Diego, CA)
- Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl(Jacksonville, FL)
- Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl(Detriot, MI)
- MAACO Las Vegas Bowl(Las Vegas, NV)
- Second round bowl sites:
- Chick-Fil-A Bowl(Atlanta, GA)
- AT&T Cotton Bowl(Arlington, TX)
- Discover Orange Bowl(Miami, FL)
- Tostitos Fiesta Bowl(Glendale, AZ)
- Third round bowl sites:
- Rose Bowl Presented by Vizio(Pasedena, CA)
- Allstate Sugar Bowl(New Orleans, LA)
- National Championship Game:
- Miami, FL
With the parameters set teams have been selected based on the current BCS Rankings. I used an online simulation site to project the winner of a 16 team playoff. The matchups in this simulated football bracket show what we've been missing with the current bowl system.
With this bracket it is evident that playoffs are the only answer even with a lower seed winner. First round matchups between Notre Dame versus Wisconsin, Oklahoma versus LSU, Kansas State versus Clemson, Florida State versus Georgia, versus Boise State and Florida. College football fans would you rather see these matchups in December or Nevada and Arizona play in the New Mexico Bowl? The 2nd round, 3rd round, and Championship Game feature matchups almost all college fans would want to see. Now that college football has set up a 4 team playoff the fans, players, and coaches need to push for more. Bracketology and college football looks like a match made in heaven.
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